Kyle Larson’s Drafting Troubles Stand Out as Hendrick Motorsports Poised to Dominate Atlanta

Hendrick Motorsports drivers started the 2024 season with a bang at the Daytona 500. William Byron drove the No. 24 to Victory Lane while his teammate Alex Bowman finished second place. Kyle Larson finished the Daytona race with an 11th-place finish. Yet, Larson has his troubles on the racetrack. 

Larson is the only one among Cup Series drivers who has led the most laps (423) at Atlanta Motor Speedway without a victory. He has two runner-up finishes at “The Peach State” venue in 2017 and 2021. The Ambetter Health 400 race is fast approaching, with Hendrick drivers ranking at the top of betting odds. Will Larson catch up with his teammates’ winning streak?

Hendrick is hot for Atlanta, but Kyle Larson may be a thorn

In a recent video, Eric Estepp called Greg Matherne from Win The Race to discuss bets placed for Atlanta. Mathorne pinned William Byron to have 13-1 odds at winning the Ambetter race at Atlanta. He extended validation to his teammates Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman as good contenders for a possible win.

But Matherne shifted gears when he broached the topic of Kyle Larson. “The outlier has been Kyle Larson who has not been as good at the reconfigured Atlanta as his teammates.”

Larson is not particularly an expert in drafting, as Matherne pointed out. “That’s kind of been a weakness in his package..he’s really tightened up the past couple of years.” He didn’t fare well in Atlanta the last season. In 2023, he barely made it beyond the last place in two races. After starting out 8th, he finished a dismal 36th place in July, and similarly finished 31st in June. 

Kyle Larson also has trouble in clutch situations. After leading the race for the most part, his luck comes crashing down when anyone is running him down or late race yellow flags are shown. For instance, in the 2023 Pocono race, Larson got outsmarted by Denny Hamlin and slammed into the wall after a late-race restart.

Matherne underlined the solid chances of Larson’s team snatching the checkered flag, though. “Betway has Hendrick Motorsports to win the race at plus-350…You get three-and-a-half to one to get four drivers who are all very competent here…they’ve won 75% of the races on this track.”

Only time will tell whether Larson will complement or go against Hendrick’s odds of winning. But he has thrown a wrench in his teammates’ path to glory before.

Larson’s previous tussle with teammate

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In the Auto Club Speedway race in California, in February 2022, Hendrick teammates conflicted on the racetrack. On a restart with 22 laps to go, Kyle Larson pushed Chase Elliott into the wall. Elliott and his crew were genuinely frustrated that their winning attempt was upended by a teammate. But Larson explained his attention was elsewhere.

Read More: Kyle Larson Blames Himself After His Embarrassing Loss to Hendrick Motorsports Teammates at the Daytona 500

“I should have had more awareness in my mirror. My spotter could have told me he was coming with a big run, and we would have avoided that mess. I would have probably not been side-drafting on Joey as hard as I was. I would have been more so protecting on Chase than worrying about Joey.”

Kyle Larson made sure to put forth his intentions. “I would never run into my teammate or block him that aggressively and that late on purpose.”

Kyle Larson has amassed 17 Cup victories since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. There are no doubts about his brilliance as a Cup driver, and fans will be eagerly looking forward to an impressive performance this weekend.

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